Regionalization: Morals, Ethics, Principles

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November 30, 2024

It was in February, 2022, that I got an e-mail from an attorney from a Springfield firm, one of many e-mails I receive on regular basis from people from all walks of life. Unlike some, this one was nice and friendly. Ethics

“Hi Muriel,

My name is Christine Magee, and I have seen your articles on the Highlands school district regionalization on various news sites. I found your contact information on your blog site and was wondering if you have heard any further updates regarding whether the Highlands or Sea Bright have submitted their petition to the Commissioner of Education for authorization to hold the referendum on the creation of the all-purpose school district. It is a story we are interested in following. Please feel free to give me a call at 973-232-5291 if you like. Thanks so much for your time! It was signed

Christine Magee, Associate, Machado Law Group

But I did not know at the time that Machado was the law group representing Oceanport in its lawsuit against Sea Bright. I had done previous stories, noting minutes showed Machado was hired in 2021 for a term expiring in January, 2022, but there were no minutes that showed Machado was continued in January, 2022 for another year.

Yet my OPRA revealed Machado had been paid thousands, including almost $12,000 in June 2022, for “Sea Bright legal services.”

Christine Magee, Associate, Machado Law Group

Apparently, Christine Magee, the attorney in the Law Group, did not think it was important enough when asking me questions about the regionalization issue, to inform me, a reporter, she is a member of the firm representing an involved party.

Expecting someone to identify themselves when contacting me isn’t an ego trip. It isn’t any expectation that if someone asks me a question, I should know their life history before I answer it. That is not the point.

The point is;

Ethics;

Moral principle;

A person’s behavior;

Ms. Magee is an attorney!

An attorney making money off the taxpayers for every single e-mail she writes for her client.

She took a course in ethics before getting her degree. She should be open and honest with people, not try to go sneaky and underhanded to get information she can use against her adversary.

As a friendly helpful journalist, I continued e-mail correspondence with Christine,
for four months. That’s when I learned about the Sea Bright Legal Services bills from June. Never did my friend Christine tell me she was representing the law firm in the regionalization issue.

In one of the emails, I shared that Atlantic Highlands had a situation where the husband of the board of education president was on the borough council to which Christine replied, “ Interesting. I didn’t realize AH could have two potential recusals as well. I wonder if the delay in AH rests in part on their spouse’s commenting on the same. “But no mention she was involved in the litigation.

In the article I wrote when I learned of all this, I opined “Cynical though I may be as a reporter, I also have a high regard for attorneys. It would never occur to me that a professional, especially a women in the legal field since they have worked so hard to achieve equality there, would continue a conversation about some legal matters in which her law firm was involved without letting me know that indeed, that is why our friendly conversations started in the first place.”

The point is;

Ethics;

Moral principle;

A person’s behavior;

It was in April 2022 that I learned the attorney was at the Highlands council meeting because she wrote, referring to the public portion of the meeting when I had addressed the governing body, “I thought your question was great, but it seems odd that they were not able to answer such a simple question as the timeline. It will be interesting to see how this matter progresses.”

To which I responded: “Ah, wish you had introduced yourself to me. Do you live here?

The response to my question?

Christine Magee, a member of the Machado Law Firm which the Oceanport Board of Education says is its official board attorney, even without a resolution at reorganization saying that, responded “I am from Plainsboro, but I work for an education law firm. So I am just interested to see how this all plays out.”

The point is;

Ethics;

Moral principle;

A person’s behavior;

Although at the time, since she had not identified herself as an attorney at the meeting, I did not whether the law firm was reimbursed for her presence there. Nor did I know whether she charged me for all the e-mails she sent me, or for the time it took her to read the ones I sent to her. I still did not know I was talking to a paid professional involved in the regionalization issue.

Now, after yet another OPRA with all the bills from the Machado Law Group in hand, during August 2022, Oceanport paid the Machado Group $7854.00 for regionalization issues, Of that total, there were approximately a dozen and a half billed by Ms. Magee for reading, reviewing writing e-mails, all for 15 minutes or $41.25 each.

There were three bills for Ms. Magee to attend meetings, one of them only 15 minutes long, the other two each more than an hour and a half long for a total of $495. With the purposes or locations of the meetings redacted, it is impossible for a citizen to whether any were for meetings with me, or with anyone else in which she did not identify herself as an attorney representing the firm in regionalization.

The point is;

Ethics;

Moral principle;

A person’s behavior;

It’s something Oceanport board members would know about and could have questioned before approving the payments.

However, they were all paid by unanimous vote of the Oceanport Board of Education, the members would have seen the bills without redactions. They would have seen to whom the e-mails were written, the meetings that were attended by Ms. Magee, and the time she spent reviewing and repairing.

Did no one even ask who the person was she was charging them to talk to?

Or what had to do with the question of regionalization?

It’s the same questions that every board member should ask of every attorney for whom they are paying $165 and more an hour.

It’s a question the brand-new Henry Hudson Regional School Board of Education should adopt as its routine policy when they begin their terms as the first elected representatives of the people on this new board of education.

As for Ms. Magee and not identifying herself to someone she well knew had a well read blog, for decades, journalists have always been charged with a lack of ethics. They have forever been charged with coloring the news, with slanting it to one side, or covering up something the public should know. For decades, it was the rare journalist who was guilty of this lack of ethics. In many cases, it was the fault of the reader who does not know the difference between an editorial, which clearly is an opinion, and a news story, which should not reflect an opinion, simply tell the news like it is.

Sadly, that, too, is gone. With newspapers going away, and the few left standing owned by publishers who clearly dictate the manner their papers are run, ethics in journalism has also taken a deep dive. Media, be it written, viewed or spoken, definitely colors the truth, takes a stand and offers only one side of an issue in many cases. For me, it is shameful that reporters subject to editors who are subject to the will of the owners, are told how to write their stories. For the ethical journalist, it is not a good time.

But for an attorney in a field that has been around since the orators of ancient Athens were first accused of taking money from their friends for solving an issue for them, it is even more shameful, more frightening and more disgusting.

Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics Ethics

Dwight David Eisenhower

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 30, 2024

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There is only one President of the United States who served in both World War I and World War II, the Texas born Dwight David Eisenhower. In fact, he is the only President who has spent his entire life in the military until the end of that war. That was when he was encouraged to run for the Presidency, so popular and impressive he was to the people of the United States.

The 34^th President of the United States served from 1953 through 1961, two full terms between two Democrats, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. He had been a Democrat early in his life, but switched to the Republican party while serving in the military.

Though he was born in Texas, Eisenhower was raised in Abilene, Kansas in a family who believed in and practiced religion though not necessarily any organized church. He graduated from West Point in 1915 and volunteered to serve in Europe when the first war broke out. He was denied that request, and instead headed a unit that trained crews for tanks in that war.

When the war was over, Eisenhower served with the army both in this country and the Philippines, rising in rank through the years. Promoted to Brigadier General just before December 1941, he led troops in numerous battles after the onset of America’s involvement.

He oversaw the invasions of North Africa and Sicily by the Allies in the war, then oversaw the invasions of both France and Germany. He became the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary force In Europe and was promoted to the rank of five star General of the Army. Two of the most consequential military campaigns of the war, Operation Torch in 1942-43 in the North Africa campaign and the Normandy invasion in 1944.

When the war ended, Eisenhower was named military governor of the American-occupied zone in Germany and was then Army Chief of Staff from the war’s end to 1948. He served as president of Columbia University for five years after that and was also named the first supreme commander of NATO at its start in 1951.

Eisenhower was determined to halt isolationism promoted by Senator Robert Taft who opposed NATO, and so entered politics to run for president. He won both that election and his second four years later, both with overwhelming landslides, defeating Adlai Stevenson in both elections.

Eisenhower’s policies were intent on halting the spread of communism and reducing federal deficits, considered using nuclear weapons to end the Korean war and was President for China signing the armistice that ended the war, an agreement which remains in place today. An advocate of Truman’s policy recognizing Taiwan as the legitimate government of China, he secured congressional approval of the Formosa Resolution, providing aid to France in the First Indochina War and providing financial support to help the French fight off Vietnamese Communists in the First Indochina War and supporting the new state of South Vietnam.

Considered a moderate conservative, Eisenhower approved the Bay of Pigs invasion which Kennedy carried out, expanded Social Security, opposed McCarthyism and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He sent army troops to ensure integrated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas and is credited with developing and beginning construction on the Interstate Highway System, the largest road construction project in American history.

In his farewell address, Eisenhower, the career soldier, expressed concern about deficit spending and government contracts to private military manufacturers as well as massive military spending.

Eisenhower died in Washington at age 79 on March 28, 1969, and is buried in Abilene Kansas at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library Museum and Boyhood Home.

Eisenhower

The Burdens of Shrewsbury

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 30, 2024

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Judging from the busy schedule, outstanding displays and exhibitions, coupled with the displays frequently part of the Eastern Branch of the Monmouth County Library main area, it is easy to see the activity and dedication of the members of the Shrewsbury Historical Society.

It is also obvious all these hardworking volunteers take their lead from the former mayor who has been a member of the Society for more than 40 years and its president for the recent many of those years.

If there’s anything you want to know about Shrewsbury and its past, seek out Don Burden.

A native of Connecticut, Don lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco and St. Louis before he and Mary Lea settled in Shrewsbury in 1976. It wasn’t long before this tireless worker was named to the Shade Tree Commission in the borough, and then went on to serve on the Shrews bury Board of Education. That all led to his being elected to the borough council and then as Mayor for eight years beginning in 2010.

But it wasn’t only his borough that he served. Don was also active at the Monmouth County level, a tireless worker on the Monmouth County Historical Commission as well as the Monmouth County Library Commission.

But Shrewsbury is his hometown, and its history, and the role it has played in Monmouth County history, are of paramount importance. His book, The History of Shrewsbury, which he wrote when he was Mayor in association with Rick Geffken, traces the story of the borough for the past 350 years both through the original history of its first 300 years written by Richard Kraybill and its updating and rejuvenation along with doubling the size of the original book to highlight what has been happening in Shrewsbury since that first book was written.

Whether it is his degree in history from Gettysburg College, or his career as a textbook editor and publisher at McGraw Hill, a combination of both or his genuine love for history, Don Burden knows how to write it, tell it, protect it, and promote it.

No matter what the collection, this historian knows a way to wrap it into a history of how it came about, why it came about and how others can learn and appreciate history from it. The wedding gown exhibit which was a star attraction at the Shrewsbury Historical Society’s museum for many months is still being talked about. The sewing machine exhibition traces the history and importance of sewing machines, not only in the immediate area but throughout the nation and highlights the variety of machines that have been created and the exceptional nuances of each. There have been so many other collections, both large and small, but all with a special meeting not only to Don but to all who come to view them and learn something new because of them.

And this personable and vivacious gentleman, who doesn’t seem to know how to stop, is eager to show anyone interested in the exhibit at any time, simply responding to any call. He is always eager to set up a time and date when a visitor wants to come to the museum to learn something. At the same time, he takes little credit for everything that’s on display at the Museum on the corner of Route 35 and Sycamore avenue. “I just brought it to life and built the membership and expanded the collection, “he explains as his reason for all the work he pours into society’s work and history. “People should have an understanding and appreciation of how we got to where we are today. The people who contributed time and talent to build a community are particularly important.

Mary Lea is as active as her husband, not only in history preservation…she is treasurer of the Historical society… but with all her work with the AAUW, from its many events that raise funds for scholarships for women to its thriving Used Book Store on Kings Highway in Middletown.

Still the couple blend their love of history with their other love: travel. The Burdens have sailed, cruised, trained, planned, and walked to so many fascinating destinations, meeting people along the way, learning history about the places they visit and meeting others with similar interests.

One of their most fascinating trips was more than ten years ago when the couple went to Shrewsbury…England, that is.

Don was Mayor of Shrewsbury in Monmouth County and thought it would be fun to meet the Mayor of Shrewsbury, England. That Mayor and an earlier Mayor of Monmouth County’s Shrewsbury had communicated in the 1940s when the worn torn English mayor called on his town’s counterpart in New Jersey to see if this Shrewsbury could help that English Shrewsbury deal with the distress of the times.

New Jersey’s Shrewsbury responded, records were kept, and when Don read all the history, he and Mary Lea decided they had to make a trip to see the 21^st century Mayor. It ended up being a day of joy, elegance, and new friendships made over tea sandwiches on the banks of the British estate.

There are dozens of stories like this, where the Burdens traveled around the world always visiting people, always learning something, teaching something, and bringing a more alive and fascinating meaning to the importance of history.

Shrewsbury

Regionalization: Is The Question Asked?

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 30, 2024

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The latest decision by an Appellate court telling Oceanport and Shore Regional their attorneys cannot effectively change the law and prevent Sea Bright from thinking for itself brings up a serious question: do attorneys ever tell their clients in advance when they don’t stand a prayer in winning their position in a contest?

The Decision Sea Bright Wins Appeal

That in itself brings up another far more serious question when it comes to boards of education or elected officials in any capacity when it comes to hiring lawyers to fight decisions: do the elected officials ever even ask their paid consultants what the chances are of winning in court?

A recent story in VeniVidiScripto on Oceanport’s nearly $150,000 for their lawyer alone to fight the law established specifically to enable Sea Bright to quit their district shows how much that one district alone spent on their attorney in the last three years specifically on regionalization.

How much it cost Shore Regional has not yet been reported, nor has a recent OPRA Request been honored.

Of course Sea Bright also then has to pay its own attorney to defend its position, a position that has been made three times now has been made clear, simply because Shore Regional and Oceanport apparently can’t believe the law.

Did any one of the school board members even ask the attorneys what made them think they could win, or what their chances were of a different opinion on a third go around after losing twice?

Yes, Sea Bright might have one member on the Shore Regional school board. But that’s usually highly unlikely even to have that one member seated. Sea Bright does not have any seats on the Oceanport Board.

Oceanport elects its board members at large, and given the fact Oceanport has four times the voters as Sea Bright, does it seem likely the smaller town has much of a chance of representation?

Might the fact their odds are better in the Henry Hudson district be one of the reasons Sea Bright wants to blend with its neighbors to the north instead of where it is?

Again, the irony. Sea Bright, since it is still a member of the Board of Education from which they are trying to be released, is paying for both sides: their own defense and the portion of their district’s cost of trying to keep them from doing what they want. But, with so little representation in the district in which they’re pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars for the education of fewer than six dozen kids, their voice or questions would be unlikely to sway a board that apparently simply listens to its paid professional without question.

Question Question Question Question

Country Christmas at Montrose Schoolhouse

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 30, 2024

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The Colts Neck Historical Preservation Committee (CNHPC) will present its annual Country Christmas at the Montrose Schoolhouse featuring the Mike Wells Trio on Sunday., December 8.

Seasonal refreshments and holiday music by the Mike Wells Trio will fill the historic Montrose one-room schoolhouse from 1 to 4 pm. All are invited to the event sponsored at no cost by the Committee.

Chairperson Mary Pahira will read “The Night Before Christmas” to the children and adults, Santa Claus will take time out from his busy schedule to pose for free photos and the Christmas tree inside the school will be festooned with decorations appropriate to the period.

The Society is also selling its popular map depicting Colts Neck historic sites, (suitable for framing) at $10 each, and “A Tour of Historic Colts Neck” booklet written by former Monmouth County Freeholder and Historical Society President Lillian G. Burry at $5 each. Both are great stocking stuffers for Colts Neck families and ideal gifts for new homeowners.

“With each passing year, we continue to have a strong turnout and receive great praise for this wonderful town tradition, and we hope to continue this tradition for years to come.” said Burry, who serves as Chairman and is also a former Colts Neck Mayor. “Everyone on the CNHPC enjoys preparing and opening the Montrose Schoolhouse for special events that highlight our township’s unique role in 19^th century America. We invite everyone to share in the warmth and historic significance of the Montrose Schoolhouse during this community celebration.”

Montrose

Santa, Decorations and Pancakes

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 29, 2024

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The Borough of Highlands is well prepared for the arrival of Santa Claus from an attractively decorated borough hall that makes it more seasonally jolly for residents paying water or tax bills to visits and photos with Santa at the Highlands Fire Department.

With a gold and white decorated tree trimmed with red and white ribbon decorating the main hall of Borough Hall, a decorating job completed by technical construction department assistant Alicia Jones and assistant clerk Liza Natale last week, along with window sills lined with red berries and greens, children are also invited to visit the fire department at 171 Shore Drive on Sunday, December 22, for photos and special gifts for all children from Santa. There were also cookies and hot chocolate for all guests and adults are encouraged to support the day by purchasing a $2 raffle ticket. Santa will make his appearance at 1 p.m.

On Sunday, December 8, the Baymen’s Protective Association and the Fire Department are joining with the Rev Joseph Donnelly Council of the Knights of Columbus at their monthly Breakfasts at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School auditorium, Miller Street and Highland Avenue

The three groups are sponsoring a free pancake breakfast in the auditorium from 9 a.m. to noon. Although termed a “pancake” breakfast, the traditional morning meal also includes eggs, sausage, toast, beverages and other delicacies prepared by the Knights kitchen crew. Although no fees are ever included in the Knights’ monthly breakfast, guests are asked to support the local organizations by bringing non-perishable food items, new unwrapped toys, or grocery store gift cards which will be distributed to those in need. Anyone with questions on the December 8 event can contact Highland’s EX-Chief Michael Armstrong at 732-581-9940 or marmstrong@highlandsfiredepartment.com

Decorations Decorations

Marina Condemnation Meeting

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 29, 2024

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The Highlands municipal land use board will hold a public hearing on Thursday, December 12, at 7 p.m. to consider whether to recommend that the Mayor and Council designate the marina between Huddy and Washington Avenues as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment.

Officially, the property is bounded by Cheerful Place and Marine Place on both Washington Ave and Marine Place and includes a sidewalk-wide paper street on Huddy Avenue, as well as underneath the water in the Marina between Huddy and Washington that was first constructed in the 1940s.

Action comes after the governing body has been attempting for several years to have the property properly maintained, and proper bulkheads constructed without success.

The property is owned by Geoff Pierini.

If approved upon recommendation after the public hearing, the mayor and council will have the right to acquire the property through eminent domain should it not meet the standards of municipal codes within a specified time.

Once the board makes it recommendation, the Council will consider whether the area should be designated as a Study Area as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment under the Redevelopment Law. That law authorizes the borough to exercise all power to condemn the site. If designated as such, the Council can then notify the owner he will have 45 days from the date of the designation notice to challenge the designation by filing action in Superior Court.

The public has the right at the public hearing to present any objections or support along with general comments on the proposal.

The area and a map depicting its boundaries in the proposed condemnation area are on file at borough hall and available for inspection during normal business hours. Scheduling an appointment with the borough clerk’s office is recommended for review of these documents and the investigation report prepared by Heyer, Gruel & Associates.

Members of the Land Use Board are Mayor Carolyn Broullon, Dean Cramer, Robert Knox, Bruce Kutosh, Frank Montecalvo, and Brian O’Callahan, Zoning Officer, Stacey Vickery, and Mark Zill.

Condemnation

Oceanport and Shore Regional Sunk… Again

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 29, 2024

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In what can only be described as a 34-page public spanking of attorneys for the Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts, another three judge Appellate Court once again told the two boards Sea Bright indeed has the right, privilege and legitimacy to move forward with its desire to become part of the newly formed Henry Hudson Regional PreK-12 school district.

Read the Ruling Sea Bright Wins Appeal

After spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on attorneys in their attempt to prohibit Sea Bright from making the choice of leaving the two districts in favor of joining Henry Hudson, both Oceanport and Shore Regional were legally quoted the law for the third time that gives the Sea Bright Borough Council the same right as a board of education to determine where their children will be educated.

Isabel Machado, Esq. Senior Partner and Founder Machado Law Group

Vito Gagliardi and Kerrie Wright were the attorneys for Sea Bright who effectively argued as the respondents for Sea Bright to the complaint borough by Isabel Machado and Joseph Betley, attorneys for Oceanport and Shore Regional whose arguments that Sea Bright’s actions could not be upheld since they did not have a Board of Education were all denied in the 34 page document released November 26.

Using terms that encompassed “we determine,” “we conclude, “we further conclude” and “we agree with Sea Bright’s decision”, the three-judge panel systematically took apart every one of the Oceanport and Shore Regional board attorneys’ arguments over the course of a 34-page final decision.

In their final determination, the Appellate Division determined that any contrary interpretation of their decision “would lead to an unjust result which delegitimizes Sea Bright’s sovereignty to manage the education decisions for its resident students.”

Further, the Appellate judges said at the end of their 34 page explanation of numerous arguments brought forth by the school boards, any other arguments in their presentations to the court that were not addressed in the decision “ are without sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written opinion.”

“This was the only reason the Highlands and Atlantic Highlands Boards of Education would not consider moving it forward, “said Tracy Abby White, an outspoken critic of the local boards declining to proceed with the inclusion of Sea Bright in the district.

“Now that this is out of the way, we can follow the advice of two independent feasibility studies. Once the funding formula has been determined the information should be shared in a public forum, in Atlantic Highlands, similar to those held in Sea Bright and Highlands, for public participation. If it makes sense, it should go on the ballot for a vote.”

Atlantic Highlands Mayor Lori Hohenleitner

Voters in both Sea Bright and Highlands overwhelmingly indicated their desire to include Sea Bright in the new PreK-12 regional district, in non-binding votes in the November election. The Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council declined to ask voters in that borough their opinion on expanding the two-town regional district to include Sea Bright which would then share in the cost of education for students in all three boroughs. Mayor Lori Hohenleitner, when speaking of putting the non-binding referendum on the ballot last month termed it “frivolous.”

In their 34 pages, the Appellate judges traced the history of Oceanport and Shore Regional’s efforts to keep Sea Bright from leaving their districts since September of 2023 after the state Commissioner of Education first determined Sea Bright did have the right to withdraw from the districts and petition to join Henry Hudson. Shore and Oceanport appealed that ruling, which was then heard and once again overruled by the Appellate Court.

The judges concluded that the law specifically gave Sea Bright council the right to act on behalf of its citizens since Commissioner of Education in 2009 had eliminated Sea Bright School District and merged it with Oceanport, mandating that Sea Bright students attend Oceanport for primary and Shore Regional for high school education.

The law in which the Commissioner took the action was designed to provide financial incentives to encourage shared services through larger school districts. Two separate and independent feasibility studies by the boroughs and the board of education both recommended inclusion of Sea Bright with Highlands and Atlantic Highlands as a means to accomplish this goal.

In their latest argument,, Machado and Betley questioned and argued such technicalities as the similar or separate meaning of the words, “merge” and “consolidate,” leaving the appellate judges to make the determination quoting Webster’s Dictionary. The two words, the judges, ruled, are synonymous of each other, and could not, as the attorneys argued, be “intended to be read differently than they would be ordinarily. Moreover, the court said, “the ordinary mean of the words belies the Boards’ interpretation.”

Read all of the stories on Regionalization HERE

Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts

Notre Dame, Shrewsbury and Red Bank

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 29, 2024

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It was sheer joy for every Notre Dame fan Saturday when the Fighting Irish trounced Army 49-14. But for the Shrewsbury clan of fans, just being there to see their beloved Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium would have been enough regardless.

Ed Jones, the grandson of Elmer Layden, one of the Four Horsemen made famous in 1924 at another win over Army, and other descendants of the team player and later head coach and athletic director at his alma mater, was present in Yankee Stadium, along with the rest of the Layden family gang, Jo-an Canning, Patricia Mullin, Mike Jones, Meghan Vaccarelli, Greg Jones, Chris Canning, Matt Canning and Pete, Ryan and Conner Mullin. He admitted to being nervous, as he says he is watching every game. “You never know how 18-22 year olds will react on a given day,” he said.

Jones said of course he’s always happy with a win and while he does not have a favorite player, he admits he does look over the Fighting Irish from New Jersey, especially Kevin Bauman. Out due to an injury for most of his senior year at Notre Dame, Bauman is back this season as a graduate student and got his first career TD reception at Purdue early in the season. He began his football career under Coach Frank Edgerly at Red Bank Catholic.

Former Red Bank Catholic Grid Star Kevin Bauman

Jones also is high on praise for Colts Neck native Al Golden, now defense coordinator for Notre Dame who also began his football legacy at Red Bank Catholic where he coached in 1993. Jones noted the RBC connections are special with all his family, since he and his siblings all graduated from there as well.

Notre Dame’s Defensive Coordinator Al Golden

If Jones has any favorite teams other than Notre Dame, it’s Army and Navy, and he concedes he does cheer for each of them in almost every other game except Notre Dame. He declined to say, however, which of the military academy teams he favors when they are pitted against each other.

Still, Jones asserts, “Notre Dame is bigger stronger and faster. ND defense is one of the best in the USA.”

This year’s win was truly a big win, he said, “ but the 1924 win was epic. That game put Notre Dame on the football world map. The Four Horsemen might be the most famous backfield in history!

As great as Notre Dame is, as powerful as its football teams are, as much history and fond memories are connected with all of it, it’s the lessons Ed Jones of Shrewsbury learned from that famous grandfather that stand out to him the most.

The oldest of Elmer’s grandchildren, the son of his grandfather’s oldest child, Ed noted his siblings Jo-an Canning, Patricia Mullin and Michael Jones grew up in a Notre Dame household. Saturdays, they listened to Notre Dame games on the radio, and Sundays watched the game on television. Their parents would go to Notre Dame football games when the team was playing in the Northeast and by the 1990’s they would go to South Bend for a game every year, always taking one of their children along. Daughter Meghan graduated from Notre Dame in 1993, and Jones said that he and family and friends would go out every year she was in college for a game. That practice continued after his parents passed away, and Jones said he and his siblings continued to attend a Notre Dame game every year.

Last year was another highlight he said. “I went to Ireland for the ND-Navy game with my children. And this year’s game was special since all the family was in attendance at Saturday’s game. “

There are other happy memories associated with Notre Dame, but they all take second place to his daughter’s graduation in 1993. There was a basketball game Jones attended at Notre Dame in 1974. when ND ended UCLA’s 88 game win streak. And the 1975 Orange Bowl when ND beat Alabama in what was Coach Ara Parseghian’s last game. There was Jones’ first at Notre Dame, when his grandfather was honored on the 75th Anniversary game honoring the Four Horsemen at ND., another game that most of the Jones and Layden’s were present to see. Many more memories.

But most of all, Jones remembers the first lesson he learned from his grandfather is “go quietly.” That was his grandfather’s favorite saying. “Gramps was a class individual. He was not flashy,” a proud grandson recalls before highlighting some other memories. “Elmer Layden was hired to be the NFL Commissioner in 1941. He led the NFL during WWII. He saved the NFL during the war years. When the War ended, he had problems with some of the owners and he was not rehired in 1946. Instead of making an issue with the owners Elmer went quietly. He never wanted to be the “star” in the room.”

It’s because of all this, because of how wise he has always felt his grandfather was, because of the close knit family and how they have all learned from their ancestors, that Ed Jones said quietly, “I try to always “go quietly.”

“Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again.”

Notre Dame

Rudolph and Christmas Carols

By

Muriel J. Smith

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November 27, 2024

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Two great events at the Strauss House Mansion of the Atlantic Highlands Historical Society will bring in the Christmas season with joy, music, children, fun and friendship as the Society hosts a couple of major events for families and friends.

On Sunday, December 15, at 4:30 p.m.., the famed movie, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer will be on the screen at the historic mansion, with all youngsters over three years of age and their families invited for the free showing. Society members plan several surprises and a guaranteed fun afternoon complete with popcorn. Rumors indicate Santa Claus may be in the crowd to check out today’s children’s reaction to his ninth reindeer who came late to the team but remained at its lead ever since.

Then on Thursday, December 19, everyone is invited to hear the outstanding Atlantic Highlands Elementary School choir sing Christmas carols a capella for a performance beginning at 7:30. Once again, blending the nostalgic music of Christmas with the excellence of the elementary school singing with their usual enthusiasm, promises an exciting evening. There will also be some snacks afterwards.

While both events are offered at no cost, it’s always a good time to make a contribution to the upkeep of the Mansion and all the Society’s efforts and activities, so that would not be out of place at either event. It’s also the time to think of that new family in your neighborhood or that college student away from home who would appreciate a Christmas gift of a membership in the HIstorical Society.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

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Veni Vidi Scripto

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Veni Vidi Scripto

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